Unforseen Circumstances 2
by 1985laurie
Summary: Here's the follow up to UC1, HouseCuddyWilson Friendship, HurtComfortHumourSnarkAction fic. Hope you like it...and review please! Final Chapter up! R&R! It's Finished! COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note: You asked for it, let me know what you think to this follow up to Unforseen Circumstances 1 (and yes I did call it UC 2 so you'd know it was the next fic!) There is more if you want it! Enjoy, Review and till next time, Buh Bye!**

Cuddy couldn't take her eyes off of House the entire journey to the hospital, it made her feel better to watch him take in every breath – it made her heart almost jump out of her mouth when she saw him swallow, meaning he was no longer fully unconscious, just to know he was still alive made her ecstatic, as much as he annoyed her, she really had a soft spot for him.

She stroked her hand over his cheek, watching the droplets of sweat forming and gliding over his brow, which was furrowed in pain for the best part of the journey.

His ripped t-shirt had now been completely removed by the EMT and he was gingerly cutting away House's torn jeans so that he could get a better look at his legs.

Cuddy could see House breathing more rapidly as the EMT took the dressing off of the gash in his right leg, clearly getting distressed as he felt his bad leg being touched.

She put her hand on his forehead and stroked gently trying to reassure him, "House its ok, we're just cleaning up the dressing, don't worry…we're nearly at the hospital…it's gonna be ok…" she comforted and soothed, making sure he became more relaxed and his breathing evened out.

She dared herself to glance over his swollen, tender collarbone and ribs – wincing as she saw in the harsh light of the ambulance, the chest drain that Wilson had hurriedly inserted between ribs "Ouch" she whispered as her eyes traced the line of blood that had dripped down past his bellybutton.

She couldn't help but stare at his scar over his abdomen where he was shot last summer; it was an everlasting reminder of how he had nearly died again in her care, or at least her hospital's care. 'Damn security, incompetent asses' she cursed to herself as she continued stroking his hair.

The EMT had cut away House's jeans to reveal his old scar and its new addition – the great old gash from coming off his bike. Cuddy drew a sickening breath as she saw the scar, it was a reminder of how House had lost everything he had in life…except his life, just over 7 years ago.

She averted her eyes to his bruised right ankle, which, in the light of the ambulance, looked very much broken and not just fractured. "You are gonna be so pissed when you wake up" she chuckled softly to him; the last thing he needed was her getting hysterical on him, not now they were almost safe, so she continued to talk to him for the entire journey in her soothing tones.

By the time they arrived at Monmouth Medical Centre, Cuddy was boring House with her knowledge of the hospital; she smiled, knowing that if House were able to, he'd be telling her that she has no life out of work...and he'd be right.

When the doors to the ambulance swung open the first person Cuddy saw was Wilson, "How did you get here so fast?" she asked, clearly surprised to see him.

"Cop car can race anyone…plus the fact that its dead at 3am on a Saturday morning probably helped…" he grinned as he helped her out of the ambulance, "How's he doing?"

"No change – they should be taking him to surgery now" she said as she was ushered out of the way by the EMT's who were wheeling House into the hospital's emergency entrance.

"I'll go and find his surgeon, got to give him the right facts – don't want him lopping off his leg while he's out, that would really piss him off!" Wilson joked bitterly, "Will you be ok?"

"Sure, come and find me when he's sorted" Cuddy said whilst she was being lowered into a wheelchair by a nurse.

With that Wilson sprinted off to find House's surgeon.

House could feel the gurney being wheeled along a smooth surface before stopping abruptly. He willed his eyes to open but it wasn't happening – too much pain, so he contented just to listen for clues as to where he was. He felt his arm being lifted up and held in place before the I.V from the ambulance was pulled out, causing him to flinch. Big mistake, the person holding his arm the proceeded to check his state of consciousness with the brightest penlight in the world – it burned into each eye when shone into them and he groaned painfully in a request for whoever was doing it to 'get the fuck off!' It didn't work; the person seemed to want to talk to him…'how nice' he thought 'trying to make fucking friends!'

"Can you tell me your name?" the irritating person said in an incredibly annoying, slow voice.

"No" House moaned.

"Oh…ok"

House heard the person walk away and speak to someone else, he caught the tail end of the conversation,

"Just give him the damn anaesthetic!"

"b-but he didn't know who he was!" the annoying person stammered.

"Of course he knows who he is – he doesn't know you though so why would he want to tell you who he is?" the other voice boomed

House heard footsteps come over to him and felt the wash of emptiness flood over him as the anaesthetic was injected into his I.V line, 'thank you' he thought before he drifted off, 'obviously someone after my own heart!'


	2. Chapter 2

Cuddy found herself admiring the choice of wallpaper in a small exam room where she was being stitched up by a young, enthusiastic doctor by the name of Sherwood.

"Luckily for you…no bullets, just glass" Dr Sherwood announced triumphantly as he dropped a piece of glass onto a tray and put her arm in a sling.

"Yeah thanks" She said, slightly put off by his over eager personality at 3am, whatever they pay the night shift staff here was obviously too much.

"Right, there you go Dr Cuddy – the dressing will need changing regularly but I guess you should be able to find someone to do that for you, what with being a hospital administrator and everything" he laughed as he noisily cleared away the equipment.

Cuddy didn't want to even contemplate what House would do to this pathetic doctor if he met him, but on the other hand – it might be amusing to watch, like watching a fly climb into a Venus fly trap, she chuckled. 'Oh damn – now he thinks I'm laughing at his stupid joke' she thought as she scurried out of the exam room almost walking right into Wilson.

"Wilson, how's surgery going?"

"They've set his ribs, it was pretty bad – the breaks were ugly" he grimaced as he remembered viewing the surgery, "…repaired the lung with no further problems, he's got a broken ankle and his right leg is pretty messed up…but what's new there?" Cuddy smiled solemnly as he continued "They had to give him 3 units of blood already, hopefully he wont need more, the set ribs should stop the internal bleeds…he's being moved to the ICU now and they are going to monitor him for a few days…then he's all ours again, full recovery in 6 to 7 weeks."

"Wow, sounds like it's all under control."

"Yeah…the thing is I've got to go but I'd rather he has someone with him when he wakes up – I mean I would do it but the cops need statements and since I don't think you're up to a trip to the precinct, I was wondering…"

"I'll go sit with him" she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Thanks – oh, how are you by the way?"

"I'll live." She called back as she made her way to the ICU.

House was wired up to blood and fluids through I.V's in his arms, he had a nasal cannula to help him get enough oxygen, the heart monitor was beeping at a rhythmically steady pace, his right leg was bound at the thigh and his ankle was in a cast. The chest drain was still in place to drain any excess blood and air from his lungs, but the surgeons had fixed it a little better than Wilson's quick insertion. The pale green gown made him look a bit off colour and had to be pulled down at his side so it didn't get in the way of the chest drain.

He looked stable, Cuddy noted, thinking back to the infarction and how ill he had looked when they'd administered the wrong dosage of I.V treatment, causing his potassium to go through the roof and putting him in cardiac arrest. He looked just peachy compared to that day.

Cuddy didn't want him to wake up because she could only imagine the kind of pain he was going to be in…but she was also willing him to wake up so she knew he would be ok, but she knew he was going to be ok, he always was...

She was shaken out of her thoughts by a nurse who informed her that she had a phone call at the nurses' station; she was amused at how the staff here were much friendlier than at Princeton, they had treated her like royalty so far.

"Hello, Dr Cuddy-"

"It's Wilson – how's House, is he ok?" Wilson sounded anxious.

"Err, yeah, he's the same as when you left him two hours ago, why?"

"I've just seen his bike, it's a wreck… and I panicked a bit really…sorry" Wilson sounded sheepish and embarrassed now, "Erm, do you want me to bring you a change of clothes or anything back?"

Cuddy laughed when she realised that Wilson was telling her that she was going to be stuck at the hospital for a while, she asked him to bring her overnight bag from her office and something comfortable to sleep in then she ordered him to get some rest before even thinking about driving back over to the hospital.

She took the opportunity to ring PPTH to arrange her leave for the next week or so, she refused to take them as sick days, she had an example to set after all and House had taken enough sick days in the past year than the entire staff at PPTH would in a lifetime! She turned on her heel when she heard the heart monitor going crazy in House's room, none of the nurse's followed as they were all too busy changing shifts.

When she entered she noticed that House had turned his head away from the door and he was breathing erratically, he must be awake…


	3. Chapter 3

"House, can you hear me?" she blurted out the first thing that came into her head.

"Well I'm not deaf Cuddy" he whined before groaning in pain and screwing his eyes closed.

Cuddy walked round the bed to face him, "What hurts the most?" she asked as she upped the dose of painkillers in the I.V slightly, monitoring his reaction, completely forgetting that this wasn't her hospital or her patient.

"My chest" he gasped, he tried to move his right arm to touch his chest but it proved to be even more agonising "Now my shoulder hurts more…ok, now the chest again…"

Cuddy could see him relax more as he lay still and collected himself, breathing a little less rapidly so as not to aggravate his angry ribs.

"Actually it's your collarbone – not your shoulder, are you sure you're even a real doctor?" she mused and he frowned at her, feigning a hurt look.

"I like it, I'm in agony and you're toying with me" he whined but still clearly bemused at the situation.

"Yes because you're right where I want you – out of trouble."

"Funny…next time you want me laid up like this just get your boys to drug me – getting run over is not as much fun as I would have liked"

"So you think being drugged would be fun?"

"I can't believe you even need to ask me that question" he grinned wearily "Where's Wilson?"

"Sorting out the cops…and what's left of your bike."

He winced at the though of his beautiful bike, crumpled and scratched as hell – guessing that it would be scrapped by the next weekend 'damn'

"How's your shoulder?" he asked sounding genuinely concerned.

"Its fine, been stitched up and everything…"

"Cool, we can compare scars later" he winked at her as she smiled back at him,

"I don't think you'll have time – you're being released in a week"

"Wow – that was so mean!" he whined. She could see that he was running out of steam and needed to rest so she sighed and settled herself into the guest chair by his bed, "Go back to sleep, you're way to hyper for someone who's just come out of surgery…"

She didn't need to ask twice, he had already started lightly snoring; the pain must have woken him before…at least he didn't seem pissed off, probably still light headed from the general anaesthetic.

She was woken later by the sound of coughing and was startled to find House cursing on the bed with a nurse holding him down as he had a coughing fit. "Oh God" he moaned when it was over, using his left hand to hold his bruised chest.

"House, you ok?" Cuddy asked trying not to sound overly concerned as she observed his flushed appearance, he hated pity – especially from her.

"Yeah, think I may have caught a cold though, can't stop coughing…didn't want to wake you though, sorry." He sounded genuinely sorry to have woken her too.

The nurse changed House's dressings and checked his vitals, promising to bring back something for his cough when his doctor had checked him over.

House thanked her and looked over to Cuddy who was staring at him quizzically. "Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked, looking a little worried.

"I swear you turn into a different person when you're the patient, you're all pleases and thank you's…its really weird"

"Remind me again why you're here…" he sighed, causing him to cough a bit more and groan in annoyance.

"Because Wilson wanted me to be here for you when you woke up because he's worried about you, or he's worried about me…or maybe he just hates both of us and this is our punishment – pick one." She grumbled.

"If he was worried he'd be here."

"Oh trust me he's worried, he saved your life you know."

"Yeah I had guessed, you two can get matching scarves made for the 'saving House from death' club" he smirked

"Yeah, that's exactly why I let him save you; he was next in line…" She trailed off and the room went quiet.

"Keep talking" House startled Cuddy as she was about to drift off.

"What, why?" She really wanted to go back to sleep and she had assumed that he must too.

"The beeping is really annoying me," he said motioning to the heart monitor "I need something more annoying to take my mind off of it, your voice for instance-"

"Funny…what do you want to talk about?"

"Me of course" he grinned and gestured to himself with his good arm, wincing as he accidentally touched where the chest drain was positioned, "Lets play a little game I like to call 'I spy', ready?"

"Whatever" She sighed as she poured herself a cup of water.

"Okay, I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'C' go!" he paused, genuinely waiting for her to answer.

"…I'm not playing I spy with you House."

"Ok…well the answer was Chest drain…just in case you were wondering – I know I was…I don't remember that being put in…" he frowned as he pulled at it.

"Well you were unconscious at the time…maybe you could have stayed that way for a bit longer"

"Just air?"

"Excuse me?" Cuddy was clearly getting annoyed and House was loving every minute of it.

"Air, was it just air coming out or was there blood too – you know Unilateral Hemopneumothorax? Cuddy, are you sure you're even a real doctor?"

"Shut up…yes there was blood too, how did you know?"

"This little tube thing here that's putting blood in my veins." He smirked as he lifted his hand to show her.

"You're such an ass…how did you know that wasn't for the blood you lost from your leg?" She was intreaged now.

"Because Wilson never stitched it up earlier, so it can't have been that bad, plus my leg doesn't hurt that much." He said matter-of-factly.

"There's no pain?"

"Oh there's pain but my leg's not high on the list of my pain priorities right now."

"Right…" Cuddy couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Go on then – tell me about one of New Jersey's largest community teaching hospitals." He sighed.

Cuddy's eyes widened in shock, she hadn't thought House was conscious when she had reeled off facts about the hospital in the ambulance earlier; she had done it to keep herself sane more than anything else, "Err, you heard that then?"

"Oh yeah, it was fascinating." He grinned and turned his head slightly to see her reaction.

"Oh God, don't tell a soul, they'll think I've got no life."

"Bit late for that – I told everybody years ago that you have no life."

"Aren't you tired?"

"No…should I be?"

"No, just wishful thinking on my part." Cuddy muttered under her breath.

"What time is it?" he enquired.

"4 o'clock…in the afternoon" she noticed that he was waiting for something else, "Saturday afternoon."

"Ok, good…well, I'm gonna sleep for a bit – can't listen to you ramble on all day…it's boring me to death" He smirked as she stared at him open mouthed for a second, looking like she was ready to make sure he'd be stuck in the ICU for life!

Author's Note: Hello, hope that wasn't too boring for you? Let me know what you think by reviewing please. Next chapter is where House eventually gets to go home and Cuddy finds out that she's gonna be looking after him, should be a laugh…well, not for Cuddy! Byeeeeee!


	4. Chapter 4

Wilson felt reassured after his phone call to Cuddy, for some reason seeing House's bike all broken and crumpled on the back of the tow truck at the police station had really shaken him up – especially because House's cane was in bits beside it, the splintered handle still in the clip. The guy who loaded it onto the flat backed lorry had wondered what the strange wooden addition was; he'd never seen anything like it before, but still he picked the pieces up and took them because the cops had wanted all the evidence at the station ready for the feds – plus he was getting paid a small fortune to do one simple job on a Saturday morning.

The cops who interviewed Wilson were in awe as he told them how he, House and Cuddy had escaped from Barker and his gunman. They weren't required to actually perform the interview though, that was down to the FBI boys who had been after Barker for the past 7 years. Wilson felt like a narrator on children's television when he looked up from his tale to discover twenty or so cops hanging on to his every word.

The FBI sent two agents to take down Wilson's details, Agent Browne and Agent Jackson, both of whom were actually remarkably friendly. Browne set about taking the official record of what happened while Jackson sorted out the bike and crash scene. Barker's abandoned hospital was being taken apart piece by piece by the feds and Wilson learnt of two other failed attempts of Barker getting his surgery previously, killing two surgeons in the process.

"So it looks like if Dr House hadn't have been there Barker would have killed both you and Dr Cuddy just to cover his tracks." Agent Browne pointed out.

"Well I hadn't exactly thought of it like that myself" Wilson added.

"Did you really think Barker would release you after his surgery?"

"I don't know...I think I did." Wilson said truthfully.

"Most people would have." Browne stated solemnly, "When can we speak to Dr House and Dr Cuddy?"

"House isn't doing too well at the moment and Cuddy is with him at Monmouth Medical Centre, they wouldn't have too much to add to my statement though, we were all in pretty much the same position."

"We really only wanted to give Dr House a pat on the back and congratulate him in aiding in the capture of a wanted felon." Browne chuckled lightly.

"He probably wouldn't welcome the visit, he's not too friendly with the law at the moment."

"Why what's the problem?"

"A creep detective named Tritter who is determined to put House away for alleged stolen prescriptions among other things."

"Trust me Dr Wilson, good people who cooperate with the FBI don't get sent to prison, and detectives who mess with said people don't get to indulge in their power trip fantasies either." Browne said whilst jotting down Tritter's name on his file.

"…and how do you ensure they don't?" Wilson asked looking puzzled.

"The feds have the dirt on everyone, if this Tritter guy has any skeletons hidden in his closet, we'll make sure they don't stay that way."

"What if he doesn't?"

"Trust me, it's not the first time I've heard his name – there's enough dirt on him to ensure he won't have a case against Dr House, or anyone else for that matter, for the rest of his career." the fed smirked. Wilson didn't really want to know what he meant by that; it was enough just to know that someone else was on House's side and he hoped House would be grateful for that.

When Wilson finally got to leave the station it was gone 3pm, 'Cuddy will be going mental' he thought as he made his way into PPTH.

He was thankful to the cops as they had given him a warm jacket to wear over top of his scrubs, but this made the staff and patients at PPTH throw him some weird looks. It wasn't common practise for Oncologists to wander round on their weekends off dressed in blood stained scrubs and cop jackets. Luckily Nurse Brenda had been informed of Cuddy's earlier phone call and didn't batter an eyelid as Wilson passed her in the Clinic.

He turned Cuddy's office upside down looking for her change of clothes, eventually finding them in a closet in the corner – possibly the first place he should have looked - he blamed the fact that he hadn't slept in two days for his stupidity.

He was stopped as he tried to leave by Nurse Brenda, who clearly wanted all the gossip about why Cuddy and House were not going to be in for the next week - it all seemed a bit too suspicious to her somehow!

"I hear Sir Limp-a-lot won't be in to do his Clinic hours for a while, what happened – he get suspended again?" she asked smugly.

"Actually he's in Intensive Care." Wilson stated while continuing in his stride to the door. If he had looked back he would have seen Nurse Brenda's jaw almost hit the floor before she quickly whipped out her mobile phone, no doubt to spread the latest gossip, so glad that she got stuck working weekends!

By the time Wilson arrived back at Monmouth Medical Centre, Cuddy had treated herself to a shower in the staff changing rooms and was kitted out in blue scrubs. She met him outside of House's room, where they could hear House having another nasty coughing session.

"How long has he had the cough?" Wilson enquired, annoyed that Cuddy hadn't mentioned it on the phone earlier.

"Since this afternoon, it's gotten worse by the sounds of it though."

"Great, just what you need with broken ribs and a blown lung on the mend."

They hesitantly strolled into his room together, both unwilling to be at the mercy of House pissed off…

Author's Note: Ok, that was for the people who wanted to know what Wilson was up to in the last chapter. Sorry about the Tritter mentions, he puts my back up so much – I can't stand to even write his name in my fics! Let me know what you think by reviewing!


	5. Chapter 5

"Where the hell have you been?" House boomed at Wilson, causing another bout of painful coughing.

"Didn't think I'd be your favourite person right now…" Wilson replied guiltily.

"All the more reason for you to be here so I can nag you instead of Cuddy"

"I see…"

"She's getting old, fast."

"Well…"

"She's changed into scrubs – has she forgotten she's not a doctor anymore?" House stage whispered to Wilson – Cuddy just glared at him then stormed out of the room.

"You haven't lost your touch I see."

"Can't help it, Cuddy told the Surgeon not to keep me on morphine…something about it being too addictive… so now I'm in excruciating pain and don't have anything to take my mind off of it – hence the need to get it off my chest…literally" he sighed and managed to stifle a cough which made him look pleased with himself.

"No morphine huh?" Wilson asked, wondering why Cuddy hadn't mentioned it.

"Don't tell Cuddy I know, she doesn't know that I know…the surgeon who told me knows that she doesn't know so I'll know if you tell her…did that make sense?"

Wilson went over the statement several times in his head before he answered "Err, I think so." He then sat down on the guest chair, House was talkative and it was already starting to tire him out, no wonder Cuddy had left.

"I'm gonna need something stronger – this is killing me."

"They must have given you something for the cough; you just have to wait for it to kick in-"

"It's kicking my lungs out from behind my ribcage…"

Wilson didn't reply, he was settled into the chair and ready for slumber land, the events of the past couple of days catching up on him.

"Why does everyone assume my room is some kind of motel?" House whispered not wanting to wake Wilson – after all, if what Cuddy had said earlier was anything to go by, Wilson had saved his life, he owed him one good nap before he laid into him for the damn chest drain!

Cuddy, meanwhile, had changed from the scrubs into the clothes Wilson had brought from her office. She was ready to leave now that House's latest babysitter had arrived; she gave Wilson 2 hours maximum before he got sick of House's insults and ended up smacking him in the face, sedating him or leaving in a strop. She was then walking out past the nurses' station when she spotted Cameron bounding up to her, "Oh great" she muttered before she was within earshot.

"Dr Cameron, do I even need to ask why you're here?" she asked exasperated, did this girl have nothing better to do on a Saturday night?

"I heard House was in Intensive Care here, I just want to know what he's done to himself – how is he?"

"He's fine – what do you mean what he's done? How did you even know we were here?" Cuddy wasn't sure what the immunologist was talking about, 'what makes her think House had done this to himself?'

"Someone at the hospital heard he was here, thought I might like to know…"

"You two-you're not sleeping with each other are you?" Cuddy asked with a look of horror spreading over her face.

"No!" Cameron shouted, causing a few nurses to look up from their paperwork, "I mean no, I was just worried."

"Thank God" Cuddy mumbled as she thought about the inter office relationships and the consequences of House sleeping with Cameron. She didn't condone that sort of randy behaviour, not in her hospital…especially not if she wasn't getting any at the moment!

"I should go." Cameron said, clearly uncomfortable with the look Cuddy was giving her.

"No, Dr House is in room 307…" Cuddy said, a slightly evil grin spreading over her features "I'm sure he'd welcome the visit."

If House thought he could torment her for half a day and get away with it because he was in a hospital bed then he was very much mistaken; bring on the visit from Dr Cameron, he was going to be so pissed off! Cuddy chuckled to herself before she left a confused looking Cameron to find House…

House had managed, with some effort, to mute his heart monitor. He wasn't joking when he told Cuddy that it was annoying the hell out of him. He also ripped off the BP cuff and that kept inflating and making him jump. Wilson was still dead to the world even though House had thrown all his unused urinals at him earlier when he started snoring.

House was halfway through counting the tiles on the roof when he heard the click click of high heels approaching his room. He instantly knew who it was when he saw the silhouette behind the closed blinds hesitate outside of his room – Cameron "Shit!" Was she a stalker of something?

He was growing impatient waiting for her to come in; he wasn't that bad was he? He wanted to shout for her to either get in here or go home but he didn't want the hassle of hurting his throat further or descending into a never ending coughing fit, so he waited.

Cameron eventually summoned up the courage to take the plunge; she opened the door to his room and entered looking anxious until she saw he was awake, and then she just looked petrified!

"What did you do?" she asked as she surveyed the damage to his leg.

"Ran it over whilst mowing my lawn" he replied

"You don't have a lawn." She deadpanned, clearly realising that whatever was wrong with him wasn't life threatening, even if he did look deathly pale.

"Obviously I was joking…why are you here?"

"I heard a rumour you were here, I was worried"

"You're always worried, keep your voice down, some of us are trying to get some sleep." He said whilst motioning to Wilson who was fast asleep still.

"What happened?"

"Wilson's fault…Someone ran me over."

"Wilson ran you over?" Cameron hissed

"No! And you suck at Chinese whispers!" he said loudly which made him cough spectacularly causing Wilson to stir.

"See now you've woken him up" House groaned as Wilson stared at Cameron like she was some kind of hallucination "Why are you here?"

"I just told you."

"Right…" House said, frowning slightly as he couldn't remember Cameron answering before.

"I'd better go; you look like you could use the sleep." Cameron said hastily.

"You drove, god knows how far, to have a two minute conversation with me while I'm laid up in Intensive care?" House slurred lazily.

"Yes and I can see you're fine, so I'm leaving, goodbye!"

"Wait!" Wilson yelled, startling Cameron as she was about to open the door and retreat, "He's not fine, look at his heart rate – who turned the sound off?"

"As if you need to ask" Cameron hissed as she picked up the BP cuff off the floor to put back on House's arm.

"His BP's low, he must have damaged something else. House!" Wilson shouted as he pressed the nurse call button.

House will still conscious but everything was blurry, he couldn't feel any pain – that couldn't be good. 'Why are you here' he thought as he spotted Cameron running out to get the nurses. After that there was only darkness as he drifted back into unconsciousness…

Author's note: I know I said he'd be going home with Cuddy but I've decided he isn't ready yet  sorry!


	6. Chapter 6

House woke to the persistent beeping of his heart monitor, swallowing painfully; his throat felt about ten times worse than it did before his BP nose dived and rendered him unconscious - for about the third time that weekend. He noticed that he was back on the O2 and he had a fresh batch of blood running into the I.V in his arm, 'great, another internal bleed – just what I need.' He thought grimly.

He looked around the room, blinking heavily as the light from the doorway pierced his heavily anesthetised senses. He could see Wilson talking to someone behind the blinds, he looked stressed out and wary at the same time, 'probably annoyed with me taking the BP cuff off and worried that Cameron may have tried to kill me' House thought.

Wilson returned to the comfy guest chair without realising House was awake; it was only when he was settled that he saw the other man had his eyes open, staring intently at him.

"How long have you been awake?" Wilson sighed.

"I don't know, I'm not wearing a watch today…" House rasped, immediately regretting it as it felt like he was swallowing razor blades; his cough had gone though.

"Turns out you actually were coughing up your lung before."

"Told you." He whispered

"You must have nicked it yesterday"

"Not my fault"

Wilson just looked defeated, "You were out for 6 hours."

'Explains why my ribs don't hurt as much' House thought; talking was defiantly off the table, not even worth winding Wilson up. That didn't stop Wilson in his mini rant though, "If you hadn't taken the damn BP cuff off we would have spotted it sooner, you're a doctor, House…you're not even listening are you?"

House wasn't listening; he was carefully raising the head of his bed up so that he could manage to reach his right thigh with his good left arm without hurting his chest, collarbone and any other injuries he wasn't aware of – it was proving difficult.

"Is the pain in your leg back?"

House just gave Wilson a pointed look then nodded.

"The dressing needs changing; do you want me to do it?" Wilson asked, sounding a little more sympathetic than before. House seemed to think about this for a while before nodding in acceptance.

It took another 4 days of hospital food to ensure House annoyed Wilson enough for him to request that he be discharged; and funnily enough the hospital was all for this happening – if they could find someone suitable to provide his home care…

"No way, I'm not looking after him." Cuddy practically laughed in Wilson's face.

"You have a week off and he only needs a week before he can look after himself" Wilson pleaded his case.

"That's what nurses are for."

"Yes but all the nurses know him!"

"I know him!"

"You're the only one who can tolerate him."

"You're not selling it to me Wilson!"

"Please…Cuddy…I don't want him to do anything to himself that we'll regret" Wilson put on his best puppy dog eyes.

"One week."

"One week."

"I'm not bed bathing him." She muttered, not realising that Wilson was still listening.

"I don't want to know" he said, cringing at the thought of House being bed bathed.

When they arrived back in House's room, House was cursing at the two orderly's who were trying their best to get him into a wheelchair. It wasn't the best logistics to have two orderlies under 5ft 6 to help a man who was over 6ft 2 off of a high hospital bed into a low chair on wheels, Wilson had to stifle a chuckle when he saw the circus act in progress.

"Could you two stop trying to cop a feel of my ass and actually help me?" House bellowed, which caused Cuddy to start grinning to herself.

"I see you two are finding this hilarious!" he directed to Wilson and Cuddy; who had both started laughing out loud.

"Need a hand?" Wilson asked innocently when he'd wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes – not that there were any there; he'd just wanted to annoy House some more and it seemed to have worked!

"Please" House begged.

After they'd successfully managed to get House out of the chair and into Wilson's car without too much upset, the three of them set of home…House didn't know that they were heading for Cuddy's home and not his 'till it was too late!

"Whoa, you're heading the wrong way!" He yelled from the back seat, noticing the look Cuddy and Wilson gave each other in the front.

"Pretty sure I'm not" Wilson said matter-of-factly.

"We're not going to my place are we?" House said, in what was really more of a statement than a question.

"You need watching 24hours a day, for at least the next week." Cuddy sounded extremely pissed off, so House already knew what was coming –

"I'm staying with you. For a week…"

"Yes."

"This is technically kidnapping you know."

"You're not angry?"

"I want to see what sexy night attire you're gonna lend me; I'm a frilly kinda guy." He leered.

"Wilson has a bag full of your clothes in the trunk."

"This is going to be a long week if you don't play along Cuddy, get angry, cry, jump me…actually forget the rest, just jump me!" He grinned.

Cuddy was about to come back with a scathing comment when she glanced in the mirror and saw House laying his head back on the headrest, clearly in excruciating pain, with his eyes squeezed tightly closed and trying not to let them know about it. She decided to cut him a little slack so she turned on the radio.

After a few minutes into the local news broadcast House started to chuckle to himself; Cuddy stared at him questioningly, "What?"

"Are you two even listening to this? We made the news!"

"What did it say?" Wilson asked, clearly interested.

"Three doctors from the New Jersey area have been vital in the capture of National wanted man JD Baker blah blah blah-"

"I'm pretty sure his name was Barker" Cuddy interjected.

"Whatever – you think I'm gonna remember when I was pretty much incapacitated for the entire ordeal?" House whined, "Besides, from what I do remember – you were hardly vital to the whole operation Miss 'Oh I think I've been shot'!"

"House – play nice, we're here." Wilson said attempting to diffuse any nasty arguments that may result in House getting one of Cuddy's stilettos permanently lodged in his eye.

House was pretty much dragged out of the car by his left arm and leg – Wilson held him up at the bottom of Cuddy's steps leading to her porch, wondering how on earth they were going to make it up them, while Cuddy unlocked the door and readied her spare room for her grumpy guest. After a lot of swearing and sweating they made it through the front door and into the living room.

"House wait-" Wilson tried and failed to stop House from collapsing onto the sofa, "You realise you have to get up from there in about 20 seconds?"

"Dizzy." Was the only reply House could muster.

Cuddy returned ranting on about how her spare bed was only a junior size; this presented a few obvious problems but reinforced House's determination to stay on the couch.

"No way – you're not staying on my couch for a week, your spine will melt."

"Well that's not something I'd ever thought possible." Wilson muttered as he bought in House's bag of clothes.

"Look, why don't you sleep in my bed – I'll take the spare bed."

House looked up, eyebrows raised in surprise "Really?"

"Sure, it's fine – there's a T.V in there and everything."

"Cool." He replied, even managing to look grateful for the gesture.

Cuddy went to blitz her bedroom, no way was she having House going through her drawers – even if he was immobile at the moment, he had ways…


	7. Chapter 7

House had been reluctant to make the move from the sofa to Cuddy's room; he regretted collapsing onto sofa earlier but the wave of nausea and dizziness that had enveloped him when they were standing in the living room had forced him to sit down or fall down – so he'd chosen the former as a safe option.

Wilson was eager to be off, he was the only one out of the three of them who had to be at work in the morning and it was getting late, "House, need to go, c'mon…Cuddy cant carry you so if you don't get up now you're going to be stuck here 'till tomorrow night."

House pried his eyes from the T.V programme he was pretending to watch and stuck his left arm out, waiting for Wilson to do the rest. They managed to get half way up to standing before Wilson unknowingly stuck his hand on the chest drain site, causing House to groan in pain and almost crumple into a heap on the floor. He was saved by the fact that as well as Wilson having good reflexes, Cuddy had chosen to position her sofa next to a wall which took the majority of House's weight via his good shoulder.

"Please don't do that again" House gasped as he tried to push himself upright from his leaning position against the wall.

"Sorry" Wilson grunted as he gingerly led House into the hallway towards Cuddy's room.

Cuddy chose that moment to exit from the bathroom, wrapped only in a towel from the hot shower she had just taken; she jumped when she saw them both standing within inches of her in the dark hallway, "Oh! I'm sure one of you could have switched on a light on your way through – I wondered who the hell it was..." she muttered angrily.

"You have more than one injured cripple staying with you?" House asked, looking amused.

"Can you wait two minutes, I've got to get changed." She said as she stepped past them to her bedroom.

"Cuddy I'm a cripple, you can't make me stand around in your hallway for hours." He whined before turning to Wilson, "you can't leave me here; I won't survive in these conditions for a night let alone a week."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take." Wilson muttered, shifting uncomfortably under House's weight.

"While we're here – I gotta pee."

"Do you need me to hold you up?"

"Yeah, otherwise I'd fall and pee all over Cuddy's nice new bathmats." He chuckled; slightly embarrassed that he had to ask for help peeing.

When House was finally settled on the bed Wilson managed to escape; leaving Cuddy to look after the patient. She saw that he was engrossed in the T.V again but looked pretty uncomfortable; she intervened his viewing to pile some pillows behind his back, forcing him to lean forward awkwardly, his ribs stiff and searing with pain. He could have sworn that she actually enjoyed seeing him in pain…well that would explain why she had hired him in the first place.

"How's your shoulder?" He asked, making her jump as she wasn't expecting him to talk when they were in that close proximity to each other.

"Its fine…itches a bit."

"Did you take the dressing off to take your shower?"

"Yes, what are you getting at?"

"Nothing kinky – trust me, I'm not in any shape to be fantasising about you in the shower right now" he lifted his left hand as if to prove the point.

"That's not something I really needed to hear…" Cuddy grumbled.

"Anyway, I was getting to a point before you got me all distracted…where was I?"

"With me, in the shower, minus a bandage on my shoulder?" Cuddy asked, not really seeing how this conversation was going anywhere but intrigued as to what point House was getting at!

"You should have it bandaged, if you don't it'll just get irritated."

"It's not really in a good position, they just don't teach the right yoga moves to get to that particular part of my shoulder."

"Please don't say things like that – not when I've got the image of you in the shower still dancing around in my head." House closed his eyes feigning embarrassment.

Cuddy stood up to leave, "goodnight House."

"Wait, I can't let you go to bed without seeing to that bandage – it'll bug me if it gets infected." He said seriously.

"How will it bug you?"

"Because you'll bug me when it hurts, trust me I've been bugging people for years when I've been in pain."

"True."

Cuddy gathered the necessary supplies and perched herself in front of House on her bed, she hesitated to take down her nightgown feeling slightly self-conscious.

"Come on Cuddy, I've given you injections in your butt, how is this any worse?" House whined impatiently as she glared at him over her shoulder.

"Don't wrap it too much – it has to be able to breathe"

"Yeah, I'm a doctor too you know, relax" he smirked, loving the power he had over his boss, even when she was looking after him, he was still the boss.

"Sorry" she replied, though not really knowing why she had apologised.

As soon as he had lifted her nightdress back over her shoulder she was up like a shot, causing the bed to jolt and House to groan; she didn't bother apologising again.

"I have a feeling I'm going to regret this…but if you need anything just call me, here are your painkillers." Cuddy sighed as she saw House grimace slightly, "Yeah I know it's not vicodin but it will do, trust me you won't get addicted to those in a hurry." She said pitifully, watching him swallow the small handful of painkillers and anti inflammatory tablets, "and no getting up – we don't want you falling flat on your face and ending up back where we were before."

"What no bell for me to ring to summon you?" he asked boldly.

"I'm not joking House, just promise me you won't do anything stupid." She said looking weary.

"Sure, ok." He said sincerely "don't worry."

"I think it's a bit late to tell me not to worry…goodnight." She turned off the light, leaving House with the remote to turn the T.V off whenever he felt it was time to sleep, which wouldn't be anytime soon – he wanted to see if they'd made the T.V news…

**Author's Note: It almost turned into a Huddy there for a moment – I don't know what came over me! Let me know what you think; or if you think this story should actually carry on or not? Is it in character enough or am I going off on a tangent? Let me know what you want - I'm open to most suggestions…**


	8. Chapter 8

Cuddy sighed in frustration again as she failed to get to sleep, it would be a long week if she had to cope with House and insomnia. She doubted that she'd last a week on the spare bed and wished she'd invested in something a bit more comfortable. She had heard House turn off the T.V at around 1am and she had been tossing and turning since then; why had she let him use her bed, he wouldn't do the same for her that was for sure – she blamed Wilson, why not.

She got up and paced into the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water; she glanced at the time illuminating on her microwave– 03.30.

As she was putting her empty glass in the sink she caught a glimpse of movement outside the window, she froze, glad that she hadn't turned the light on. Her heart was pounding as she stalked the figure outside with her gaze, they moved round her place with knowing ease. She ran into the hall, trying her best not to make any noise and keeping her eyes locked on any movement outside.

House jolted awake when Cuddy burst into the room, "Cuddy, thought you would have waited at least one night before you took advantage of me" he said groggily, wondering if he was still asleep.

Cuddy said nothing, but crouched low as she looked out of each of her bedroom windows; House merely looked on puzzled.

"What are you doing?" he asked when his curiosity overcame him.

"Sshhh!"

"Playing hide and seek huh?" he chuckled "want me to count to 50?"

Cuddy ignored him as she peered through the darkened window; House noticed that she was shaking slightly.

"Got a stalker you'd like to tell me about?" he chuckled lazily.

"Don't even joke about it" Cuddy snapped, which made House grin stupidly at her, "They've been out there every night since I left you with Wilson at the hospital"

"Have you – oh I don't know – called the cops?" he asked, doubting that Cuddy would let anyone scare her in her own House without getting the cops involved.

"I did the first night but they'd disappeared by the time they got here – they didn't even bother turning up the next night." She said bitterly.

"Maybe he's got your phone tapped" House guessed, thinking it was a bit of a stretch for a stalker to go to such lengths but willing to believe that stalking Cuddy was probably worth the extra effort.

"What makes you think it's a 'he'?" She whispered, bringing him out of his contemplation for the moment.

"Seriously?" House asked looking shocked "Wow, that's definitely something I need to think about – Cuddy being stalked by some kind of lesbian nymphomaniac stalker…cool."

"Why would it be a nymphomaniac?"

"It's my fantasy – don't ruin it."

"You're sick…why would he tap my phone then?" Cuddy asked whilst crouching behind the curtain, clearly trying to hide from whoever was outside.

"Cheap thrills, general nosiness – I can think of a few reasons why I'd have your phone tapped" House mused.

"You're not my stalker" came the muffled reply from the curtain.

"No but I can imagine we have similar interests" House said whilst raising his eyebrows at the thought of Cuddy's cleavage, "where's my cane?"

"Why?" Cuddy snapped as she looked over her shoulder at House sitting up in her bed.

"Because I miss it" he said irately as he threw the covers off the bed, pulling a face at his messed up right leg.

"What are you doing?" Cuddy hissed from her position at the window, looking uneasy at what she hoped wasn't about to happen.

"I'm gonna beat up your stalker, what else?" House replied looking serious, and then rolling his eyes in annoyance as she made no attempt to get the cane, "You've got me all excited, I wanna see your sexy stalker."

"Don't be an idiot, get back in bed" she sounded annoyed and was still staring at his silhouette on the bed.

"My cane?" he motioned, wishing Cuddy had turned on the light so he could see where he was putting his legs – 'oh well at least I can blame the fact that it's dark if I fall flat on my face' he thought as he made the first attempts of standing by himself.

"We didn't bring one on account of you not being able to walk" she muttered as she walked over to the bed "You could hardly get here from the living room, how do you expect me to hold you up?"

"I'll let you in on a little secret, I'm feeling a lot better than when I was stuck in hospital – that's why they let me out" he said patronisingly.

"Yeah that explains why Wilson was so worried about you earlier – you're obviously all better" she said exasperatedly as she returned her gaze to the window, deciding that she'd rather not watch him crash onto the floor in agony.

"That's what I like to call my little sympathy act – it's Wilson's fault I'm in this shape and I don't plan to let him forget that fact for a long while yet." He said smugly as he dragged himself to the window using Cuddy's various dressers and drawers that were lined up along the room for support.

"You're unbelievable" was all Cuddy could say as she watched him, although she had to admit that it didn't surprise her too much, this was House after all – he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to make Wilson feel guilty.

"Thanks" he grunted as he leaned against the wall for support, "where's Mr Stalker guy?"

Cuddy squinted as she searched her front yard for the man she had tracked from the window.

"I can't see him now" she muttered angrily as she looked at House for his reaction, "I didn't make you get up you know" she added hastily as she saw him frown in annoyance.

He was mumbling quietly as he scanned the area, watching every shadow, "don't you have a security light?" she heard him grumble.

"What and make it easy for any Tom, Dick or Harry to break in?" Cuddy scoffed, "No I don't."

"Actually they're supposed to deter thieves – you know big, bright spotlight drawing attention to Tom climbing through your bedroom window, Dick with his shiny crowbar breaking into your tool shed or Harry carrying your nice new T.V set over your front lawn...actually you don't have a tool shed do you – substitute tool shed with…" House couldn't think of anything so he pretended to be interested in a bush that moved against the wind, hoping Cuddy would get the gist of the lecture.

"I get the point." Cuddy added dryly, "I'll get one tomorrow – hopefully you'll move out quicker once the neighbourhood cats turn the damn thing on every five minutes-"

"That his van?" he interrupted, making Cuddy follow his gaze to an old, beat up looking van that was parked under a streetlight halfway down the road.

"Err, yeah I've seen it there a couple of times."

"Nasty dent it the front fender don't you think"

"Right, you think he should get it fixed, feel free to share car bodywork tips with him after you've beaten him to a pulp!" she half laughed before she saw the look of panic on House's face, "What?"

"Don't suppose you've got your cell phone back yet?"

"No why?"

"Because that's the guy who gave me a nice taste of tarmac last Friday night - we need to call the cops…"


	9. Chapter 9

Cuddy snuck into the hall and grabbed her cordless phone, always keeping her eyes on the windows, making sure there was nobody looking in on her. She shuddered as she thought of some creep hanging around her house, spying on her for the past few days; the police had been helpful when she had called them but still insisted that she was being paranoid with all that had happened to her recently. This had left her feeling a little sheepish at the time; now she just felt annoyed that they hadn't taken her seriously.

When she returned to the bedroom House was doing his best to get dressed, the cold night was doing nothing for his aching ribs; Cuddy noted that he had also finished the painkillers meant for the morning, 'oh well, I suppose it is early morning really' she thought dourly as she picked his shirt up off of the floor and handed it to him.

"Thanks" he whispered, glad that she'd saved him the trouble of having to bend down to get it himself; he was also pleased that she had left to get the phone giving him enough time to gingerly pull on his jeans without her seeing him in pain – after all he was trying to keep up the pretence that he was fine now so she'd quit worrying.

"Call Wilson." He instructed as she showed him the phone.

"Wilson? I thought we were going to call the cops?"

"Your phone's tapped."

"I thought you were joking about that."

"I was…then I saw who your stalker is – it's defiantly tapped, that's why they disappeared when you called the cops before…so call Wilson."

"And say what? They're going to get suspicious whatever happens, so what has Wilson got that we don't have?"

"A cell phone."

"Right…but how can I tell him to come over with his cell if they've tapped my phone?"

"Honestly, have you never seen all those cool spy movies-"

"I'm not talking in code to him House, that's something you may be good at but I'm not!" Cuddy snapped, clearly irritated.

"Tell him I've done something stupid and fallen out of bed or something – and you can't get me back in…you get the idea?" House said patronisingly slowly just to annoy Cuddy, "You think you can handle that?" he sniped.

"Can you handle groaning in pain in the background or do need help?" she threatened menacingly; House grinned, happy that she was taking his bait and their relationship was re-entering the normal snark/counter snark territory, how he'd missed that when she'd been worrying about him!

"Close the curtains, get in the spare room, turn the light on, then run in here and make the call…got to make it realistic."

"I'm sure I can manage sounding annoyed that you've woken me up by falling out of bed…it will take all my acting skills mind you." Cuddy stated sarcastically as she drew the curtains and crept back into the spare room…

Wilson was enjoying his pleasant slumber, back in a soft hotel bed, much better than a hard hospital chair he'd tried to rest in; he had spent the last week and a half alternating between being with House and looking after his ducklings at PPTH. They had all heard what had happened to House but only Cameron had been crazy enough to visit him in hospital, and since that had ended with House passing out, she hadn't felt it was a good idea to have a follow up appointment! She had, however, taken it upon herself to take Wilson's key and look after House's apartment while he wasn't there, sorting mail, doing his laundry and feeding Steve; she had dragged Chase along on the first day but he had refused to go back to the apartment after Cameron had tried to get him to help clean it – he wasn't her slave and he defiantly wasn't House's cleaner!

Forman had taken the initiative and suggested they use the time without House to work off some clinic hours, at least then they could get something out of the time they had without cases; he'd even decided to do a few of House's hours for him, after all he had seen the news report on Barker's capture and rumour has it that House had been pretty courageous. No doubt he'd either play it down when he got back or he'd use it to his advantage – either way Cuddy wasn't going to get many clinic hours out of him for a while!

Wilson felt something vibrate near his head, 'what the hell?' he thought as he opened his eyes to see his cell which had danced off of the bedside cabinet and onto his bed. He groaned as he rubbed his hand over his face, trying to get the sleep out of his eyes, he glanced at the clock as he fumbled to find the phone – 4.00am.

"Hello" he croaked as he finally got the phone to his ear.

"Wilson it's House, he's done something stupid-can you get over here?" Cuddy sounded panic stricken and she was almost shouting down the phone.

"What's he done?" Wilson asked, adrenaline suddenly taking over and making him feel wide awake.

"He tried to get up, he's on the floor – I need you to help me get him up."

"Can I speak to him?"

There was a small pause and Wilson could hear Cuddy talking to someone he assumed was House.

"He's in too much pain to talk." She said before adding "just get round here now!"

"Ok, I'll be ten minutes." Wilson said as he hung up and set about getting dressed, cursing House and his cell – why hadn't he turned it off before he went to bed, then someone else could deal with the idiot on the floor.

"You'll never make it as an actress Cuddy - that was abysmal acting!" House hissed as he sat perched on the edge of the bed.

"Not all of us are as good at lying as you are." She replied as she helped him on with his sling, taking extra pleasure when he gasped when she jolted it to tie the knot, "sorry" she cooed sweetly to irritate him.

"Go and see if they're still outside." He snapped, "if they're not then we've woken Wilson up for nothing and then he'll be really pissed off."

"I don't see why we couldn't have just called an ambulance and then called the police from the hospital." Cuddy muttered as she crept out into the hall to check the van was still there – it was.

"Don't you want to know why they're hanging around outside your house Cuddy" House began his lecture "probably been sent by Barker to get rid of the people who sent him down – i.e. you, me and Wilson, if we go to the hospital they'll get away and the police won't catch them – if we get Wilson here with his cell, we can call our friendly cops from Monmouth and get them down here and bust them while they think you and Wilson are in here playing Doctors, or maybe you'd rather they hang around outside for the next year or two, you could pretend they're gnomes or something?" House was looking agitated now and raised his eyebrows questioningly waiting for Cuddy's response.

"So you're doing all of this to get some thugs locked up…you thinking of joining the police force when this is over?"

"Just doing my civil duty as a US citizen, putting criminals behind bars for their illegal activities."

"No, you want them to get locked up for what they did to your bike."

"Pretty much yeah." House replied not missing a beat, which made Cuddy smile.

"But if they're waiting for all three of us what's to stop them from doing something when Wilson gets here."

"Cops, Cuddy – they have really fast cars, as soon as he gets here we place the call – then we wait it out, won't take long – we'll be back to bed by lunchtime!"

"I mean what's stopping them from doing something to Wilson when he gets here?"

The colour drained from House's face, "I hadn't thought of that…"


	10. Chapter 10

Wilson stifled a yawn as he pulled into Cuddy's road, there was no traffic at this time of morning and it was still dark. He didn't pay much attention to the dark van that was parked opposite Cuddy's house, it blended in with every other parked car along the street and besides it was early and he wanted to get in, sort House out and get back to bed as soon as possible. He barely had time to knock on Cuddy's front door before he was yanked in by his arm, causing him to lose his balance and fall into her house in a heap on the floor; he looked up at her, bewildered, as she slammed the door and locked it in the space of two seconds; to say she looked jumpy would have been a huge understatement!

"What's going on?" He questioned sensing that there was something serious going on other than just House being an ass. Cuddy didn't say anything, she just led him quickly through to her bedroom by the arm; Wilson was very confused when he saw House looking pretty well sitting on the edge of the bed attempting to take Cuddy's home phone to pieces with his right arm still in the sling. He noted Cuddy's guilty look she gave to him before she resigned herself to the window, 'what the hell is going on?' he thought nervously.

"Uh, ok – if you two have invited me over in some kind of 'sleep over truth or dare' prank, then I'll warn you I have work tomorrow…or rather today…and I don't appreciate being woken up and made to drive all the way here under false pretences!" he started, still grumpy from being woken up so early.

"Sshh!" House whispered as he chucked what was left of the home phone on the bed irately, "Where's your cell?" he hissed.

"Why? Need a new phone to prank people on now that you've destroyed Cuddy's?" Wilson said, not sure whether to be angry or intrigued as to why he had been called and why they were both acting so strange.

"No we need to call the cops – keep your voice down." House held his hand out, expecting Wilson to pass him the cell.

Wilson stood before House, not reaching for anything, baffled as to why House was acting so strangely; he glanced over at Cuddy who was trying to peer out of the window without being seen by anyone outside – very suspicious too.

"What's going on?" Wilson pressed again, getting more and more agitated.

"The guys who escorted us to Monmouth are outside…or at least one of them is, the van's there, figures you didn't even see it-"

"What, outside?" Wilson interrupted fearfully.

"Need your phone to call the cops; Cuddy's is wired…well it was before I destroyed it" he grinned guiltily as Cuddy heard what he just said and tutted in annoyance at what he'd done to her cordless phone, "Phone" he pressed, hoping Wilson would just give him the damn cell already.

Wilson gulped and looked uncomfortable, "My phone?"

"Yeah…" House said, hand still outstretched, waiting.

"It's in my coat pocket…" Wilson stammered.

"Right…and your coat is…" House pressed impatiently.

"In…my…car." He said sheepishly as House groaned and slapped his hand on the bed dejectedly.

"Well you'll have to go and get it then won't you." House stated angrily.

"I'm not going back out there after what you just told me." Wilson scoffed.

"You'd rather wait for something to happen before we call the cops?"

"I can't believe you made me come over – I could have been jumped outside"

"Don't be so dramatic" House sighed rolling his eyes at Wilson, but fully understanding why Wilson was annoyed – he didn't think it matched his anger at being called by Wilson the previous week though, at least Wilson hadn't been run over on his way over, 'maybe he'd be less argumentative if he had been' House thought to himself while giving Wilson a death glare.

Wilson and House stared at each other defiantly, until the sound of a loud thump came from the living room area causing both of them to jump.

"They're trying to get in." Cuddy said, breaking the silence, her voice unable to hide the fear she was feeling; this was her house, she was supposed to feel safe in her own home!

"They don't know that we know about them – shut the door, put the dresser in front of it" House ordered hoping Wilson wasn't too annoyed not to follow orders.

"Right" Wilson grunted as he moved the dresser to block the door, "then what – we jump out of the window and leg it down the road?" he hissed, angry at himself for not bringing in his phone – but angrier at House for dragging him into this mess; 'this must be payback for me getting him involved in the first place' he thought wearily.

"I hadn't planned that far ahead – but feel free to climb out of the window, and while you're out there grab your phone and call the cops!" House whispered; Wilson couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Seriously?"

"You got a better plan?"

They heard glasses smash from another room, Cuddy assumed they were in the kitchen; she opened the window leading to the darkened side of the house and motioned to the two guys who were still arguing with each other by the bed, "I don't know about you but the window plan is the best one yet – coming?" she didn't wait for an answer as she climbed out into the dark front garden.

House dragged his useless right leg behind him as he braced himself on the drawers as he had done earlier to get to the window.

"I see you've made one hell of a recovery since last night." Wilson muttered accusingly as he watched House manoeuvre himself next to the window. House smirked until he saw the slight drop the other side of the glass, there was no way he could get out without searing pain – 'great', "Come on Rapunzel, need to use your long luscious locks to lower me to the ground" he whispered to Wilson, who was listening at the door for the intruder. Wilson rolled his eyes and easily climbed out of the window, lowering House out was not as graceful – they ended up sprawled out on the grass, House on top of Wilson. They heard a commotion coming from the bedroom – whoever had gotten in through the kitchen window was attempting to break the bedroom door down; it wouldn't take them long to figure out that the three of them had bolted.

"Come on!" Cuddy shouted to them from Wilson's car; luckily he had left it unlocked and the keys were in the ignition – well he hadn't expected anyone to steal it at four in the morning! Wilson rolled House off of him and jumped up; he grabbed House's good arm and yanked him up too, making sure he didn't give him time to complain before dragging him across the lawn to his car as fast as it was humanly possible.

House managed to heave himself onto the backseat of Wilson's car; he heard a yell followed by a gunshot after which Wilson collapsed half in and half out of his car too – 'oh crap'. House leant over, ignoring the familiar pain in his ribs, chest and leg, and grabbed Wilson, dragging him into the car, slamming the door and shouting to Cuddy to drive. She certainly didn't need telling twice as she reversed the car out of her drive, wishing she'd been able to grab shoes before they'd made their escape – she had enough trouble reaching the pedals in Wilson's seating position without the added inconvenience of not having shoes on.

She glance in the wing mirrors "They're following us!" she screeched as she saw the battered van pull out from between the parked cars, "House?"


	11. Chapter 11

"House?" Cuddy panicked when she got no reply; she tried to look at her passengers in the mirror but she couldn't see them so she dared to turn in the seat to see; she gasped when she saw House leaning over an unconscious looking Wilson, "What – what happened?" she stammered before snapping her head back to concentrate on the road ahead, "has he been hit?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"No – he smacked his head on the car when he heard the gunshot, managed to knock himself out." House chuckled, sounding relieved, as he sat back up straight to soothe his ribs, "Relax, I checked him over, he'll be fine – no holes!" he added when he caught the appalled look Cuddy gave him in the mirror.

"They still following us?" House asked, alert all of a sudden.

"I don't know – can't you look, I'm trying to drive here" Cuddy whined as she made a sharp right turn.

"Kinda hard to twist round with broken ribs" House replied bluntly, wincing as he was forced to hold onto the back of the passenger seat so as not to be thrown about in the back by Cuddy's erratic driving.

There was a pause as Cuddy desperately searched in the mirrors for the van, "Yeah, it's still behind us, why couldn't Wilson have a sports car?" she groaned in despair.

"Good" House said triumphantly which wasn't the response Cuddy had expected at all, "don't lose them"

"What, did you hit your head too? There's nothing good about being followed by people with guns House!" she snapped at him as he tried to lean over the seat in front of him to grab Wilson's coat; he couldn't reach it and it defiantly hurt his broken ribs and collar bone trying.

"Pass me Wilson's phone." House ordered sharply when he gave up torturing his body to try and get it himself, "Just chuck his coat here!" he added impatiently when Cuddy fumbled with the coat on the seat next to her unable to find the right pocket fast enough for him.

She passed him the coat and House located the phone and shakily found the number left by the Fed's they'd met in Monmouth the week before, luckily Wilson actually did things like update his phone numbers – House still only had 7 numbers programmed into his cell, that way he never had to call people he didn't want to talk to!

They answered straight away which surprised House, for some reason he'd expected to get an answer machine at 4.15 in the morning – even though it was the FBI!

"Cuddy" he called, snapping her out of her concentration, "Drive out of town, get on the highway, make sure they follow."

"I thought we were going to the police?" she shouted back confused at the sudden change of plan.

"They won't follow us if we go to the station – just get on the freeway, trust me – they're dumb enough to follow us!"

"I don't want them following us!"

"So you'd rather they got away and came back to finish the job another day?" House questioned plainly frustrated.

"Shit, we don't have a lot of gas." She said, growing more and more desperate – she could hear House explaining to the Feds who they were and what was happening over the phone, he had obviously gotten through and help should be on the way, 'please hurry up and arrest these creeps' she silently begged.

"Just keep driving, the Feds will intercept us once we're on the highway – don't lose the van though."

Cuddy didn't think that would be a problem, she could still see the van in her mirrors and she was relieved to see that it wasn't a particularly fast van; she didn't want people shooting at them again like last time!

"Here take this and tell them where we are" House ordered as thrust the cell into Cuddy's hand; he was preoccupied with the small moan he heard coming from the seat beside him.

"Wilson, welcome back!" he cried overenthusiastically.

"Ohhh, what happened?" Wilson groaned holding his head, wincing at the lump that was gradually forming above his brow.

"You nosedived into the car…literally" House replied, trying to hide his relief at Wilson waking up and appearing not to be too badly injured.

"Great…did we get away?" He asked as he took in his surroundings, he wasn't used to travelling in the back of his own car; it was disorientating to say the least – the bump on his head wasn't helping much either!

"We're working on it" House said earnestly; Wilson barely had time to think of his next question before Cuddy swerved the car dramatically past an oncoming car that had drifted over to their side of the road; the driver, who had probably been up all night, had chosen that particular stretch of road to fall asleep at the wheel. The tyres of Wilson's Volvo screeched and Cuddy desperately tried to keep it on the road but to no avail – they hit an embankment and the car came to an abrupt halt, slamming House and Wilson into the back of the passenger seat. Luckily for Cuddy, the airbags cushioned her – plus she had her seatbelt on, gun wielding maniacs or not – safety came first!

"Thanks for the heads up." House groaned to Cuddy as he carefully checked over his body for any new injuries the impact into the seat may have caused, "turn the lights off" he said so urgently it made Cuddy automatically comply. They saw the headlights of the van pass behind them at speed, the driver obviously not realising that they had come off the road because they were masked by trees, keeping them well hidden for now.

Wilson tried the door and was surprised when it opened, considering the amount of mud they had just wedged the car in, he was sure they would be trapped, "You owe me a new car" he said dryly, not sure if he should be aiming at House or Cuddy. Cuddy sighed in relief when she saw that they were both ok, but she panicked slightly when she couldn't open her door to get out; Wilson saw the fear and put his hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort, "it's ok" Cuddy relaxed a little, nodded gratefully to Wilson and set about taking off her seatbelt.

"I don't mean to break this touching scene of tranquillity" House growled "but I think it's time we vacated the vehicle."

House had watched the van's taillights disappearing into the distance but he could see brake lights now and knew that the van would be coming back to see where they had gone; he didn't want to be sat in the car waiting for them to return!

Wilson hurriedly dragged House to his feet after he had painfully manoeuvred himself to a position by the opened door; he thought he had it bad when he felt his shoes filling up with sludge until he remembered that House was barefoot and his cast was probably ten time heavier with mud in it. Cuddy had climbed onto the back seat and was wishing she had brought shoes with her too as she saw the deep puddles they had to wade through to get to the bank the other side; she slipped as she stepped out of the car and landed flat on her ass, cursing and groaning.

"When I said I wanted to see you mud wrestling this wasn't what I had in mind." House stated despondently while resting his good shoulder against the car. Cuddy shot him a killer look before she realised why he was so unhappy – there was no way he would make it very far in this mud; if she had slipped getting out of the car then he had no chance getting away.

She and Wilson didn't have time to think of the logistics of getting him over the embankment before they heard the squeal of tyres braking as a vehicle stopped on the road they had just come off…

**Author's note: Hey, I think I'm going to be wrapping this story up pretty soon, another chapter or two (well…probably three knowing me!) so let me know if you have enjoyed it and if you'd like to see more stories from me. Thanks to the regular reviewers; radon65, bmax, graybaby1, Boys Don't Cry, Ravenwood85, BlkDiamond, KylaRyan, SamBell, LindafromItaly etc. Not forgetting everyone else who has taken the time to read and review – thank you! If you have anything you'd like to see written about House, let me know because I'm open to any ideas for fics – I'm desperate to start my next fic but don't want to write the same old stories as everyone else!**


	12. Chapter 12

She and Wilson didn't have time to think of the logistics of getting him over the embankment before they heard the squeal of tyres braking as a vehicle stopped on the road they had just come off…

They were far enough away from the car not to be seen; the early morning light was not enough for them to be easily seen, they took advantage of this by creeping away through the trees and up the bank. If they could just get somewhere relatively safe then they could call the Feds and let them know where they were; Cuddy didn't want to risk looking at the cell in case the gunmen saw the light and pinpointed their location.

House was defiantly getting annoyed with all the dragging that he was being subjected to in the past week or so, he reflected that maybe he should have ignored Wilson's cry for help that night when he was getting himself kidnapped; then he wouldn't be in this mess…literally. He stifled several groans as he was led up the bank by Wilson, who wasn't sure of the best way to get his friend to the top without hurting him further – he settled for dragging House by his good arm and allowing him to painfully limp up the bank, if they weren't in such a scary situation Wilson would have found it hard not to laugh!

Cuddy's feet were killing her by the time they reached the top of the embankment; she collapsed at the top, out of breath and thoroughly knackered. She watched Wilson scramble with House crawling painfully behind him up the steep bank – the thugs from the van couldn't see them due to the trees that made up that part of the bank; they were searching the area by the growing light and it wouldn't be long before they saw the various footprints and drag marks leading up to where they were hiding.

Cuddy watched, holding her breath, as two more vans pulled up behind the battered van – these ones weren't rusty heaps thought, they were black, shiny, new vans with blacked out windows, 'the Feds!' Cuddy thought, relieved. House and Wilson had only just managed to crouch next to her when one of the thugs shouted, signalling to the other that he had seen their pray – or at least found their tracks.

What the excited thug didn't notice though was that his colleague had already been taken down silently by two Federal Agents; he continued to scramble up the bank, eager to catch and take down the people who had been responsible for his nice pay packet to be cut off, by stopping Barker's little operation. He stood just metres from where the three were squatting, gun in his hand; Cuddy's heart was in her mouth, she could see both House and Wilson, doing their best to breathe quietly and lay still, further towards the gunman.

The Feds were taking their sweet time in taking down the second gunman; Wilson couldn't see how they were going to get out of this one as well as they had with Barker and his gunman – 'best wait for the Feds to do something' he decided. He hoped that House wasn't feeling in another heroic mood as he had been with Barker; besides, there were no chairs to crash over this gunman's head!

They didn't have to wait long – there was a warning shout from one agent and the gunman spun round in surprise; he didn't waste any time in performing his counter attack and used two shots before he was ploughed down by the Feds gunfire.

The gunman collapsed to the ground beside House and Wilson; he was still conscious though, and he seemed genuinely shocked when he saw his targets so close – he let out a small chuckle and grinned sadistically, pulling the gun that had failed to fall from his hands and aiming it at Wilson.

Wilson closed his eyes in anticipation for the shot, there was nothing else he could do; too far away to grab for the gun and too close to dodge bullets…or so he thought. He yelped as he felt himself be thrown over the bank; unable to stop the momentum with his arms he decided to just go with it until he was stopped by a tree. He checked himself over, no holes 'I didn't get shot' he thought, relief and delight in his smile…'but I heard a shot...' his smile faded in a split second, "House!" He heard another shot as he scrambled back up the bank using the last reserves of his adrenaline fuelled energy.

House couldn't help but grin at the confused look the gunman gave him when he had booted Wilson down the bank with his good leg; it wasn't what he had expected at all, when you shoot at someone they aren't supposed to disappear down a steep bank before the bullet reaches them! Before the gunman had a chance to realise what House had done the Feds were on top of him, pinning him down and forcing the gun out of his hand. The creep had been shot 4 times already and still had enough energy to give House one last sneer as he was forcibly pushed down the bank by the Feds.

"House!" Wilson cried as he made his way over to where House was sprawled on top of the bank, "Are you ok?"

"Just peachy, how are you?" House replied, causing Wilson to shake his head in annoyance at his off hand reply.

Before Wilson had a chance to get annoyed with House, Cuddy cut in with Agent Browne, who seemed pleased to see them but concerned too as he shone his flashlight over to where House and Wilson were positioned.

"Erm, do you need a hand getting down from here?" Browne asked cautiously; he had only spoken to House once before in the medical centre and had been on the end of a particularly foul mood due to the fact that House had been unsuccessfully trying to negotiate himself out of there for 3 hours before he'd met with him! The sight of the three Doctors, covered in mud and looking like they hadn't slept in days was enough to ensure Agent Browne was extra perceptive of their needs at this time.

"Judging by the state of Dr Wilson I'd say rolling down the bank isn't the best way to get down from here…" House looked at scowling Wilson which sort of proved his point, "Yeah I think I'm going to need a hand – or two." He said quietly.

They managed to get House sitting up with some effort, getting him on his feet was a struggle and he nearly keeled over the bank a few times, only to be saved by Wilson's hand on his left shoulder. It took a good few minutes with plenty of rest stops for Browne and Wilson to get House down the embankment and into the Feds' van; he cursed about his 'cripple' status for the whole descent and Wilson knew that it was his way of covering up how embarrassed he was to being literally carried down.

They were put into a van and joined by Agent Browne and his partner, Agent Jackson, who both agreed to accompany them to PPTH (Cuddy's choice of hospital – she just couldn't keep away from the place!) and take their statements.

It was while they were in the van that Wilson realised how rough all three of them must look; they were absolutely caked in mud that was starting to dry and flake everywhere in the van. He glanced a look at House's cast, noticing for the first time that it was cracked and he was bleeding all over it; he looked at House, who had his head leant back and his eyes closed, "What happened to your ankle?" he asked, the fear sticking in his words.

House opened one eye and made minimal effort to look down at his leg then back at Wilson "Flesh wound" he stated simply, closing his eyes and making out he was trying to rest.

"From what?" Wilson asked – even though he already knew…

"Bullet."

"From when you pushed me over the-"

"Yep" House cut him off, genuinely wanting him to shut up; his ankle hurt but he could see where the bullet had exited so clearly there couldn't be too much damage and Wilson already worried too much.

"So…you saved my life…again" House visibly flinched at Wilson's statement.

"Nah, I just wanted to see if it was possible to make it to the bottom without hitting a tree." House smirked as he looked Wilson in the eyes, seeing the Oncologist taking this in he then added "did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Hit any trees?"

"Only a small one." Wilson sighed.

"Good."

"Thanks."

"You're Welcome." House added sincerely; Wilson knew this wasn't all about the trees and so he left it at that, grateful that he understood House enough to tell when he wasn't just being glib – so little words and so much unspoken meaning, no wonder Wilson had a headache...no wait – that was concussion from head butting the car earlier!

Agent Browne turned to face his weary travel companions with a triumphant glint in his eye; he had just been tracing the calls from the gunmen's cell phone and he knew the Doctors would want to know exactly what he had just been told by headquarters.

"You'll be pleased to know that we've found out who set you up; the guy who was feeding them the information, Dr Cuddy's home address, all of your movements over the past few weeks – it was your good friend Detective Tritter…"


	13. Chapter 13

"You can't be serious?" Cuddy said, "Tritter" she repeated his name with disgust.

Wilson was too shocked to say anything; he looked over to judge House's reaction to this information. House no longer had his eyes closed; he was regarding the floor of the vehicle thoughtfully and was frowning slightly as he processed the interesting piece of news.

"I can see that this has come of a bit of a shock" Browne started, "we knew Barker had some kind of contact in the force but we were not able to link him to anyone until we traced the phone records on this cell" he showed them the gunman's phone, "there's a significant trend between when we thought were about to bust Barker and when Detective Tritter placed calls to this number – enough evidence to take down a corrupt cop who had been receiving significant amounts of money in his bank account the day after our planned ambushes."

Wilson and Cuddy looked at each other, stunned into silence; Agent Browne decided to press on, he was on a roll after all – he hadn't even been interrupted by Dr House yet, he'd managed to stun him into silence too - what a result!

"It's believed that Barker was also using Tritter as a distraction – I understand he was causing some discomfort between certain hospital employees and conducting some bogus investigation into Dr House?" Browne looked to House, who in turn looked to Wilson for acknowledgement.

"If it was intended as a distraction then it worked." Wilson said bitterly as he faced Cuddy; she looked guilt ridden and didn't dare look up and see what emotions might be playing on House's face at that moment.

"If you hadn't told us about Detective Tritter's vendetta against Dr House then we would have had no reason to scan his calls and monitor his bank account – he probably would have gotten away" Browne said to Wilson, trying to figure out why he and Dr Cuddy both looked so depressed when Dr House looked clearly bemused.

"Once you've given your statements then we can put Tritter away for a long time." Browne continued, thinking that maybe the seriousness of this bust was not getting through to them clearly enough – 'why aren't they happier?'

"Where is he now?" House spoke out in a clear, unfaltering voice startling Cuddy who sat beside him; she wasn't expecting him to speak so soon – this was huge news to all of them and House should be as speechless as she and Wilson were!

"We're holding him – turns out he was waiting for you at Princeton Plainsborough Teaching Hospital, I wonder what gave him the idea you might turn up there at half past four in the morning." Browne stated, knowing full well that Tritter had been in contact with Barker's goons as soon as they started chasing Wilson's car.

House seemed to ponder over the fact that Tritter really was going to jail for a very long time before he let a small smile play on his lips; 'maybe I'll pay him a visit before he gets sent down – see how he's holding up' he told himself.

"My phone was tapped – did he do that?" Cuddy asked suddenly, breaking House from his blissful thoughts on how badly Tritter was going to get beaten in prison.

"I'd imagine that was how they were keeping track of your movements…don't worry though – we'll decode your line and you won't need to change your existing handset, it's a simple procedure." Browne explained, causing House to wince and attempt to stare thoughtfully out of the window, avoiding Cuddy's death glare.

"House" she snapped when he refused to acknowledge her.

"Oops" came his feeble response.

"Am I right in thinking that you destroyed a perfectly good, and very expensive, handset for nothing – I thought you were actually doing something constructive for a change?"

"I never said I knew what I was doing – you just assumed I knew about phone tapping for some reason…which I find pretty offensive really, what kind of person do you take me for Dr Cuddy?"

"A complete ass" Cuddy hissed angrily.

House feigned being upset by Cuddy's remark but he couldn't hold in a cheeky smirk when he noticed Wilson desperately trying to keep a straight face.

"I don't know why you're so happy" Cuddy pointed warily at Wilson then to House, "You no longer have a car because of this idiot's scheme to bring down the entire New Jersey crime syndicate"

"Oh yeah" Wilson frowned, joining Cuddy in giving House evil looks.

"Oh lighten up you two, if the wind changes you'll be stuck like that." House said pointedly, "We're here" he added as they pulled up to PPTH.

Cuddy did her best to make herself look presentable by tying her hair back – Wilson and House looked at each other amazed; did Cuddy seriously think that by fixing her hair before going into the hospital the staff would fail to notice her shoeless feet and the fact that she looked like she'd been in a mud wrestling contest.

"That made all the difference." House stated sarcastically, causing Cuddy to roll her eyes in annoyance.

"Some of us actually have standards to maintain – I wouldn't expect you to understand" she replied, slightly embarrassed that they had noticed what she was trying to achieve.

They were each wheelchaired into the hospital; House insisted on it – there was no way in hell he was going to be the only one in a wheelchair being subjected to every staff member in the hospital asking him if he was ok.

"I can walk" Wilson insisted as the orderly brought a third wheelchair for him under House's orders.

"You hit your head pretty hard" House pressed, signalling for Wilson to get out of the van, sit down and shut up.

"Yes, but I fail to see the connection between that and my ability to walk!"

"Maybe I should have shoved you down the embankment with a bit more force" House muttered as Wilson went to step out of the van. House decided to help him out by tripping him up as he was trying carefully to avoid standing on his cast; causing Wilson to narrowly avoid landing flat out on top of the orderly! House chuckled as Wilson gave up and sat in the wheelchair with a loud sigh of exasperation.

House got a brand new set of x-rays for his impressive set of injuries, plus a nice new cast for his ankle which was only grazed from the bullet – 'thank God' he thought – he hadn't really wanted to consider that he may have actually taken a bullet for Wilson, that would be so weird!

Cuddy managed to get cleaned up and acquire a set of fresh clothes without too many people seeing her covered in mud and barefoot which relieved her.

Wilson, unfortunately, got collared by Cameron who had some how mysteriously found out that the three of them had been admitted and she had tracked them down as soon as she arrived at work to see how House was. Wilson made a mental note to watch what he said to Nurse Brenda in future because she obviously took it upon herself to be the hospital's nerve centre for gossip and boy was she fast at spreading the word!

"How is House doing?" Cameron asked unsuccessfully trying to keep the concern out of her tone.

"I'm fine." House stated, making her almost jump out of her skin; she hadn't heard the orderly push the wheelchair up behind her – 'House probably did it on purpose' she thought angrily.

"Oh…I heard Cuddy's looking after you?"

"Not anymore…couldn't hack all the midnight yearning for my body – seriously all that woman thinks about is sex – I can't stay with her anymore, it's too tiring."

"You were only there one night House."

"and look what happened to me" he cried dramatically as he gestured to the wheelchair, "I'm going home"

"You need someone to stay with you-" Cameron started

"It's not gonna be you – last time you were left in the same room as me it don't recall it ending well…actually I can't remember what happened"

"You passed out" Cameron recalled dryly, "Internal bleeding".

"Wow…you're defiantly not taking me home then" House smirked.

"Excuse me for actually caring about what you do to yourself."

"Oh relax; my nursemaid is standing right there." House groaned whilst pointing to Wilson who turned to look behind him then turned back realising that House was actually talking about him – doh!

"Fine…get well soon" Cameron said with much less venom than she intended, before she stalked off to inform Chase and Foreman of House's condition, not that they'd particularly care.

"Was that an ever so subtle way of inviting me to stay at your place for a while?" Wilson asked knowing full well that it was.

"Sure…did it work?"

"Well the hotel is draining my finances...and I seem to be the only person who can put up with you for more than 10 minutes."

"There's the added bonus of me being completely incapable of pulling any pranks on you on account of being unable to walk" House added light-heartedly.

"How do you think Cuddy's going to feel to know her roommate is moving out after just one night?"

"I'll have to break it to her gently" House said sincerely before he and Wilson both burst into laughter and headed for home…

The End... (Seriously guys – I can't think of anything else to write and what better way to end than by having House and Wilson laughing together like in the old days!)


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